LUNGevity Announces 2013 Lung Cancer Early Detection Research Awards

New Early Detection Awards bring total number of LUNGevity-funded grants to new milestone

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LUNGevity Foundation, the largest lung-cancer focused funder of research in the U.S., announced that it has awarded $400,000 in new lung cancer research funds to two outstanding researchers through its Lung Cancer Early Detection Research program. These awards are in addition to the six other 2013 translational awards granted through LUNGevity's Career Development and Targeted Therapeutics programs that were announced earlier this year. The work of these researchers will help ensure continued progress against this cancer that kills more people than the next four cancers combined. The additional two grants bring LUNGevity grant-funding to the milestone of 100 grants awarded in 23 states since 2002.

LUNGevity's Early Detection Awards for Translational Research program support research projects directed at new approaches to improve clinical methods for the detection of primary tumors. 2013 Early Detection Awards for Translational Research were made to:

• Feng Jiang, MD, PhD, University of Maryland, Baltimore, for "Sputum biomarkers for the early detection of lung cancer"
• Ignacio Wistuba, MD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, for "Identification of biomarkers for the detection of SCLC"

"While colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers all have effective methods to detect those diseases early in their progression when they are most treatable, and even curable, lung cancer, which accounts for 27% of all cancer deaths in the U.S., does not. LUNGevity researchers are working to ensure that an early diagnosis of lung cancer will become a reality, with thousands of lives saved," said Andrea Ferris, President and Chairman of LUNGevity.

The 2013 Career Development and Targeted Therapeutics Awards in Translational Research were made to:

Timothy Burns, MD, PhD, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, for "Targeting KRAS-mutant NSCLC through inhibition of mTOR and Hsp90"

David Kozono, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, for "Biomarkers for NSCLC radiosensitization by proteasome inhibition"

Meredith Tennis, PhD, University of Colorado Denver, for "Biomarkers for targeted lung cancer chemoprevention"

Balazs Halmos, MD, Columbia University Medical Center, for "Identification of predictive biomarkers of chemoradiotherapy in lung cancer"

Lecia V. Sequist, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, for "Determining mechanisms of resistance to next-generation EGFR inhibitors"

Frank J. Slack, PhD, Yale University, for "Targeting KRAS mutations in lung cancer"

Special thanks to Genentech and our other donors for supporting the LUNGevity Scientific Research Program.

The Foundation works with its Scientific Advisory Board, eighteen prominent and leading scientists and researchers, and additional experts to ensure that grants are awarded to the proposals with the greatest potential for saving lives. Under the guidance of the Advisory Board, chaired by Dr. Pierre Massion, Director of Thoracic Program and, Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, LUNGevity has become the nation's premier private grant-making organization funding research for the early detection and effective treatment of lung cancer.

About LUNGevity Foundation

LUNGevity Foundation is firmly committed to making an immediate impact on increasing quality of life and survivorship of people with lung cancer by accelerating research into early detection and more effective treatments, as well as by providing community, support and education for all those affected by the disease.  

Our vision is a world where no one dies of lung cancer.

For more information about the grants or LUNGevity Foundation, please visit www.LUNGevity.org.

About Lung Cancer

• 1 in 14 Americans is diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime
• More than 226,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year
• About 60% of all new lung cancer diagnoses are among people who have never smoked or are former smokers
• Lung cancer kills more people than the next four cancers (colorectal, breast, pancreatic, and prostate) combined
• Only 16% of all people diagnosed with lung cancer will survive 5 years or more, BUT if it's caught before it spreads, the chance for 5-year survival improves dramatically

SOURCE LUNGevity Foundation